Intermediate content processing for content delivery networks

ABSTRACT

An intermediate server for handling content requests received from edge servers in a Content Delivery Network (CDN) and accessing and processing content distributed throughout the CDN may include a port that receives a content request from an edge server in a same Point-of-Presence (POP) including a URI. The ICPS may also include a content processor communicatively coupled to the port and configured to perform a processing function on the requested content to produce processed content for delivery to the edge server. The ICPS may further include a CDN content interface that provides virtualized access to content files accessible using URIs throughout the CDN and configured to receive a portion of the requested content using the URI stored in a second POP, and provide the requested content to the content processor, wherein the requested content comprises the portion of the requested content.

BACKGROUND

This disclosure relates in general to a content delivery network (CDN)and, but not by way of limitation, to intermediate caching andprocessing to more efficiently utilize the CDN.

A CDN is a large distributed system of servers deployed in multiple datacenters in the Internet. The goal of a CDN is to serve content toend-users with high availability and high performance. Besides betterperformance and availability, CDNs also offload the traffic serveddirectly from the content provider's origin infrastructure. CDNs caninclude geographically distributed points of presence (POPs) to locateedge servers close to end users. CDNs are capable of delivering contentin high demand with higher levels of quality of service (QoS). Contentcan be requested by universal resource locator (URL) from a CDN. Varioustechniques are used to route a URL request to a nearby POP, for example,in order to efficiently retrieve content.

Customers are using CDNs and cloud services in more creative ways.Applications, storage, and other services are being provided remotely.New forms and formats for content delivery are constantly being providedthat can possibly provide greater access to content, faster transferrates, and less burden on origin servers.

SUMMARY

In one embodiment, the present disclosure provides a description of anintermediate server for handling content requests received from edgeservers in a Content Delivery Network (CDN) and accessing and processingcontent distributed throughout the CDN. The intermediate server mayinclude a port that receives a content request from an edge server. Thecontent request may include a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)associated with requested content, and the edge server and theintermediate server may be part of a first Point-of-Presence (POP) inthe CDN. The intermediate server may also include a content processorcommunicatively coupled to the port and configured to pass the URI to anoperating system operating on the intermediate server, receive therequested content from the operating system, and perform a processingfunction on the requested content to produce processed content fordelivery to the edge server. The intermediate server may additionallyinclude a CDN content interface that provides virtualized access tocontent files accessible using URIs throughout the CDN. The CDN contentinterface may be configured to receive a first portion of content usingthe URI where the first portion of content may be stored in the firstPOP, receive a second portion of content using the URI where the secondportion of content may be accessible from a second POP, and provide therequested content to the content processor. The requested content mayinclude the first portion of content and the second portion of content.

In some embodiments, the CDN content interface may include a virtualfile server that operates in userspace without requiring modificationsto a kernel of the operating system, a physical storage device, and acaching engine that communicates with the local storage device and otherdevices in the CDN. The caching engine may be configured to store thefirst portion of content and second portion of content in the physicalstorage device. The CDN content interface may be further configured toreceive a third portion of the requested content using the URI, wherethe third portion of the requested content may be stored in the physicalstorage device, and the requested content may further include the thirdportion of the requested content. The physical storage device may have astorage capacity that is less than a storage capacity of edge server.

In some embodiments, the processing function may include dividing therequested content in streaming data chunks. The content processor mayinclude a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server. The processing functionmay transcoding the requested content from a first file format to asecond file format. The processing function may include encrypting ordecrypting the requested content. The content processor may include athird-party module requiring a per-installation license. The secondportion of content may be retrieved from an origin server that isaccessible through the second POP. The intermediate server may beconfigured to determine that only a portion of the processed contentshould be delivered to the edge server, and the processed content may bebased on only a portion of the requested content.

In another embodiment, A method of handling content requests receivedfrom edge servers by an intermediate server in a CDN and accessing andprocessing content distributed throughout the CDN. The method mayinclude receiving a content request through a port from an edge server.The content request may include a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)associated with requested content, and the edge server and theintermediate server may be part of a first Point-of-Presence (POP) inthe CDN. The method may also include passing the URI to an operatingsystem operating on the intermediate server and passing the URI from theoperating system to a CDN content interface that provides virtualizedaccess to content files accessible using URIs throughout the CDN. Themethod may additionally include receiving, by the CDN content interfacea first portion of content using the URI where the first portion ofcontent may be stored in the first POP, and a second portion of contentusing the URI where the second portion of content may be accessible froma second POP. The method may further include passing the requestedcontent to the content processor. The requested content may include thefirst portion of content and the second portion of content. The methodmay also include performing a processing function on the requestedcontent by the content processor to produce processed content fordelivery to the edge server.

According to yet another embodiment, another intermediate server forhandling content requests received from edge servers in a ContentDelivery Network (CDN) and accessing and processing content distributedthroughout the CDN may be discussed. The intermediate server may includea port that receives a content request from an edge server. The contentrequest may include a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) associated withrequested content, and the edge server and the intermediate server maybe part of a first Point-of-Presence (POP) in the CDN. The intermediateserver may also include a content processor communicatively coupled tothe port and configured to perform a processing function on therequested content to produce processed content for delivery to the edgeserver, where the processing function comprises dividing the requestedcontent in streaming data chunks The intermediate server mayadditionally include a CDN content interface that provides virtualizedaccess to content files accessible using URIs throughout the CDN. TheCDN content interface may be configured to receive a first portion ofcontent using the URI where the first portion of content may beaccessible from a second POP, and provide the requested content to thecontent processor where the requested content may include the firstportion of content.

Further areas of applicability of the present disclosure will becomeapparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It shouldbe understood that the detailed description and specific examples, whileindicating various embodiments, are intended for purposes ofillustration only and are not intended to necessarily limit the scope ofthe disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is described in conjunction with the appendedfigures:

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of an embodiment of a contentdistribution system.

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of an embodiment of a point of presence(POP) that is part of a content delivery network (CDN).

FIG. 3 depicts a block diagram of an Intermediate Content ProcessingServer (ICPS) that is part of a CDN.

FIG. 4A depicts a block diagram of an ICPS, according to a firstembodiment.

FIG. 4B depicts a block diagram of an ICPS, according to a secondembodiment.

FIG. 4C depicts a block diagram of an ICPS, according to a thirdembodiment.

FIG. 5 depicts a flow chart of a method for processing intermediatecontent in a CDN, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 6 depicts a swim diagram of transactions within an ICPS, accordingto one embodiment.

FIG. 7 depicts a block diagram of an embodiment of a computer system.

FIG. 8 depicts a block diagram of an embodiment of a special-purposecomputer system.

In the appended figures, similar components and/or features may have thesame reference label. Further, various components of the same type maybe distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a secondlabel that distinguishes among the similar components. If only the firstreference label is used in the specification, the description isapplicable to any one of the similar components having the same firstreference label irrespective of the second reference label.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The ensuing description provides preferred exemplary embodiment(s) only,and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configurationof the disclosure. Rather, the ensuing description of the preferredexemplary embodiment(s) will provide those skilled in the art with anenabling description for implementing a preferred exemplary embodiment.It is understood that various changes may be made in the function andarrangement of elements without departing from the spirit and scope asset forth in the appended claims.

Referring first to FIG. 1, a block diagram of an embodiment of a contentdistribution system 100 is shown. The content originator 106 offloadsdelivery of the content objects to a content delivery network (CDN) 110in this embodiment. The content originator 106 produces and/ordistributes content objects and includes a content provider 108, acontent site 116, and an origin server 112. The CDN 110 can both cacheand/or host content in various embodiments for third parties to offloaddelivery and typically provide better quality of service (QoS) to abroad spectrum of end-user systems 102 distributed worldwide.

In this embodiment, the content distribution system 100 locates thecontent objects (or portions thereof) and distributes the contentobjects to an end-user system 102. The content objects can bedynamically cached and/or hosted within the CDN 110. A content objectmay include any content file or content stream and could include, forexample, video, pictures, data, audio, software, analytics, and/or text.The content object could be live, delayed, or stored. Throughout thespecification, references may be made to a content object, content,content stream and/or content file, but it is to be understood thatthose terms could be used interchangeably wherever they may appear.

Many content providers 108 may use a CDN 110 or even multiple CDNs 110to deliver the content objects over the Internet 104 to end users 128.The CDN 110 may include a number of points of presence (POPs) 120, whichare geographically distributed through the content distribution system100 to deliver content. Various embodiments may have any number of POPs120 within the CDN 110 that are generally distributed in variouslocations around the Internet 104 so as to be proximate to end-usersystems 102 in a network sense. Routing requests between the multiplePOPs can be done during the DNS resolution and refined by assignment ofthe edge server after request for the content in this embodiment. Otherembodiments use routing, redirection, Anycast, DNS assignment and/orother techniques to locate the particular edge server that will providecontent to an end user 128. In addition to the Internet 104, a wide areanetwork (WAN) and/or local area network (LAN) 114 or other backbone maycouple the POPs 120 with each other and also couple the POPs 120 withother parts of the CDN 110.

When an end user 128 requests a web page through its respective end-usersystem 102 while browsing, the request for the web page is passed eitherdirectly or indirectly via the Internet 104 to the content originator106. The content originator 106 is the source or re-distributor ofcontent objects. The content site 116 may include an Internet web siteaccessible by the end-user system 102. In one embodiment, the contentsite 116 could be a web site where the content is viewable using a webbrowser. In other embodiments, the content site 116 could be accessiblewith application software or customized hardware other than a webbrowser, for example, a set top box, a content player, video streamingappliance, a podcast player, etc. The content provider 108 directscontent requests to a CDN 110 after they are made or formulates thedelivery path by embedding the delivery path into the universal resourceindicators (URIs) for a web page. In either case, the request forcontent can be handed over to the CDN 110 in this embodiment by havingthe end-user system 102 perform a DNS look-up to choose where to requestcontent from two or more POPs 120.

A particular edge server may retrieve the portion of the content objectfrom the content provider 108. Alternatively, the content provider 108may directly provide the content object to the CDN 110 and itsassociated POPs 120 through prepopulation, i.e., in advance of the firstrequest. The CDN servers include edge servers in each POP 120 thatactually serve end user requests. The origin server 112 holds a copy ofeach content object for the content originator 106. Periodically, thecontent of the origin server 112 may be reconciled with the CDN 110through a cache, hosting and/or pre-population algorithm. Some contentproviders could use an origin server within the CDN 110 to host thecontent and avoid the need to maintain a copy.

Once the content object is retrieved from the origin server 112, thecontent object is stored within the particular POP 120 and is servedfrom that POP 120 to the end-user system 102. The end-user system 102receives the content object and processes it for use by the end user128. The end-user system 102 could be a personal computer, media player,tablet computer, handheld computer, Internet appliance, phone, IPTV settop, video stream player, streaming radio or any other device thatreceives and plays content objects. In some embodiments, a number of theend-user systems 102 could be networked together. Although thisembodiment only shows a single content originator 106 and a single CDN110, it is to be understood that there could be many of each in variousembodiments. Additionally, some embodiments could have multiple CDNs110, where a content originator 106 could have a captive CDN 110optionally used for its content or not when a third-party CDN is used toshed requests.

With reference to FIG. 2, a block diagram of an embodiment of a POP 120is shown that is part of a CDN 110. Although only one POP 120 isdepicted, there are a number of POPs 120 similarly configured andgeographically distributed throughout the CDN 110. The POPs 120communicate through a WAN router 210 and/or an Internet router 220 whenlocating content objects. An interface to the Internet 104 from the POP120 accepts requests for content objects from end-user systems 102. Therequest comes from an Internet protocol (IP) address in the form of aURI.

Edge servers 230 are made with general purpose computers loaded withsoftware to perform various functions for the CDN 110. The edge servers230 could be rack mounted or arranged in clusters. Multiple hardwareprocessors and storage media could be used to implement each edge server230. Each edge server 230 can load multiple instances of the samesoftware and/or a variety of software to implement variousfunctionality. For example, software may be used on edge servers toimplement switching fabric, routing, cacheing, hosting, DNS lookup,analytics, business rules, delivery assignment, etc. The softwareinstances can scale with loading of the POP 120. Different edge servers230 may have a different set of functionality as defined by the softwareinstances that are programmed to run on each edge server 230.

Switch fabric 240 assigns the request to one of the edge servers 230according to a routing scheme such as round robin, load balancing, CARP,random, etc. In this embodiment, the switch fabric is aware of whichedge servers 230 have what capabilities and assigns within the grouphaving the capability to store and serve the particular content objectreferenced in the URI. A protocol such as CARP is used in thisembodiment to disperse the URIs between the group of edge servers 230.Every time that a particular URI is requested from the group, it isassigned to the same edge server 230 using CARP. The caches gathered ina particular group as neighbors can be the other servers in the currentPOP, less loaded servers in the current POP, servers having thecapability to process the content object, a subset of servers assignedto a customer using the CDN to serve the content object, or some othergrouping of servers in the POP 120.

In another embodiment, the switch fabric 240 assigns the request to oneof the edge servers 230, which performs CARP to either service therequest or reassign it to a neighboring edge server 230 with software toperform an assignment master function. The switch fabric 240 sends eachpacket flow or request to an edge server 230 listed in the configurationof the switch fabric 240. The assignment can be performed by choosingthe edge server 230 with the least amount of connections or the fastestresponse time, but the switch fabric 240 in this embodiment assigns thepacket flow somewhat arbitrarily using round robin or randommethodologies. When the chosen edge server 230 receives the packet flow,an algorithm like CARP is used by the chosen edge server 230 topotentially reassign the packet flow between a group of edge servers tothe one dictated by the algorithm. For example, the switch fabric 240could choose a second edge server 230-2 being the next in the roundrobin rotation. The second edge server 230-2 would perform CARP on therequest and find that the first edge server 230-1 is being assigned thistype of request. The request would be reassigned to the first edgeserver 230-1 to fulfill.

In some cases, the CDN 110 is used to host content for others. Contentproviders 108 upload content to an edge server 230 who hosts the contentto function as an origin server. After the content provider 108 places acontent object in the CDN 110 it need not be hosted on the origin server112 redundantly. Edge servers 230 can perform the hosting functionwithin the CDN 110 with other edge servers 230 perhaps caching the samecontent that is hosted by another edge server 230.

Requests from end-user systems 102 are assigned to an edge server 230that may cache the requested content object. On occasion, the edgeserver 230 receiving a request does not have the content object storedand available for immediate serving. This so-called “cache miss”triggers a process within the CDN 110 to effectively find the contentobject (or portion thereof) while providing adequate QoS. The contentmay be found in neighboring edge servers 230 in the same POP 120, inanother POP 120 or even an external origin server 112. The various edgeservers 230 are grouped for various URIs uniquely. In other words, oneURI may look to one group of edge servers 230 on a cache miss whileanother URI will look to a different group of edge servers 230. Invarious embodiments, a particular URI could be assigned to one or moreedge servers 230 in a single POP 120, multiple POPs 120 or even in everyPOP 120. Generally, more popular content is stored on more edge servers230 and more POPs 120.

When servicing requests from end-user systems 102, some form of contentprocessing may be performed on the requested content before it isdelivered from an edge server 230. In some cases, content processing maybe performed by special software/hardware modules that are integratedwith existing devices within the POP 120 or on the origin server itself112. If the content processing is performed on an edge server 230 or onan origin server 112, the software/hardware performing the contentprocessing may need to be distributed to each edge server 230 and/oreach origin server 112.

As modern CDNs proliferate and become more complex, content processingmay become more specialized and programming intensive. In someembodiments, content processing may be performed by a module supplied bya third-party. Third-party modules are often subject to licensingagreements and per-installation fees. In this situation, it may beimpractical to install content processors on each edge server 230. Itmay be even more impractical to expect content providers 108 to acceptlicensing agreements and pay the associated fees in order to installcontent processors on each origin server 112. Furthermore, contentprocessors may evolve on a constant basis as new streaming, encryption,and transmission technologies are explored. This can result in frequentupgrades, patches, and reinstallations for content processors. A CDN mayinclude thousands of edge servers 230 and hundreds of POPs 120. Keepingeach of the edge servers 230 up to date with current versions of athird-party content processor could increase the overhead costs to aCDN. The CDN would also have to enforce version control and securityupdates for third-party content processors installed on origin servers112 that are serviced by the CDN.

Embodiments described herein may disclose an intermediate contentprocessing server (ICPS) that can be used to process and deliver contentto edge servers 230. FIG. 3 depicts a block diagram 300 of an ICPS thatis part of a CDN. Edge servers 230 may receive requests from end-usersystems 102 for content provided by an origin server 112. As describedabove, the origin server 112 can provide cached versions of content, orportions of content, to a CDN cache hierarchy 302. The CDN cachehierarchy can store local copies of content in POPs throughout the CDNsuch that a local copy of the content is available when a nearby edgeserver 230 receives a request from an end-user system 102. If the CDNcache hierarchy 302 does not have a cached copy of the content, then thecontent may be retrieved from the origin server 112.

If content processing is to be used for a content request, the CDN cachehierarchy 302 or the origin server 112 may first provide the content toan ICPS 304 within the CDN. The ICPS 304 can retrieve the content, or aportion of the content, and use a local content processor to process thecontent, or a portion of the content retrieved. The processed contentcan then be sent to an edge server 230 for delivery to an end-usersystem 102. The CDN cache hierarchy 302 may include edge servers andICPSs from a plurality of different POPs. Therefore, within the ICPS304, a specialized CDN content interface may be configured to providevirtualized access to both local and remote content accessible by thevarious POPs of the CDN. The CDN content interface will be described ingreater detail later in this disclosure.

As used herein, the term “content processing” may be used to refer toany type of processing that changes the format, substance, and/orencoding of content. As illustrated in FIG. 3, different contentprocessors may have different effects on a content stream. In oneembodiment, the content processor may “chunk” a content file into piecesthat can be streamed or broadcast to an end-user system 102. Forexample, a content processor may divide a video file into chunks, whereeach chunk comprises a valid video file with a header, video track,and/or audio track. Each chunk can contain at least one keyframe suchthat individual chunks can be played back by themselves. Chunked content306 may then be delivered, possibly piecewise, to one or more edgeservers 230. The edge servers can then provide the chunk streaming toindividual end-user systems 102.

In another embodiment, the content processing may include encrypting acontent file. Alternatively, the content processing may includedecrypting a content file that was previously stored on an origin server112 in an encrypted form. In another embodiment, content processing mayinclude changing an encryption type of the content file to be compatiblewith a web browser or content playback application operating on anend-user system 102. An encrypted/decrypted stream 308 may be deliveredfrom the ICPS to one or more edge servers 230 for delivery to end-usersystems 102.

In another embodiment, the content processing may include transcodingcontent formats. Generally, transcoding may include the directdigital-to-digital data conversion of one encoding to another encoding.This may be used in cases where an end-user system 102 does not supporta particular content format, or were limited storage capacity mandates areduced file size. Therefore, transcoding may also include datacompression/decompression. Content processing that includes transcodingmay include first decoding the content to an intermediate uncompressedformat, and then transcoding the content into a target format. In oneembodiment, transcoding-type data processing can be used to compressand/or change the format of content files stored on an origin server 112into a format that is compatible with the edge servers 230 in the CDN.In another embodiment, transcoding-type data processing can be used toprovide content to end-user systems 102 that use a variety of differentoperating systems, playback modules, and/or content applications. Inthese cases, transcoded content 310 may be provided to the edge servers230 for storage/delivery.

In yet another embodiment, the content processing may include operationstypical of a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server. FTP servers mayinclude control and data connections between the end-user system 102and/or the ICPS 304. FTP transactions may also include authentication,including a username and password to authorize access to content, oralternatively may allow for anonymous connections. In this case, an FTPcommunication channel 312 may be opened between an end-user system 102and the ICPS 304 that may or may not involve one or more edge servers230. The end-user system 102 may interact with the ICPS 304 as an FTPserver, while the ICPS 304 retrieves files from a local cache, from theCDN cache hierarchy 302, or from an origin server 112. The FTPcommunication channel 312 may appear as though all of the contentrequested and transmitted is locally sourced by the ICPS 304. Therefore,the fact that the ICPS 304 may retrieve requested content from remotedevices and/or locations may be transparent to the end-user system 102.

It will be understood that these four types of content processingdescribed above are merely exemplary, and not meant to be limiting.Other types of content processing may also be provided by an ICPS 304that are not listed here explicitly, such as natural languageprocessing, demand processing, bit rate processing, data mining,adaptive searches on content, social media functions, interactions withother APIs, human language translation, content blocking, parentalcontrols, content censoring, content rating, security controls, and/orthe like.

In some embodiments, the ICPS 304 may contain a single content processorand may provide a single type of content processing, such as chunkstreaming. In other embodiments, the ICPS 304 may include multiplecontent processors, where each content processor may provide one or morecontent processing functions. In another embodiment, the ICPS 304 maycombine multiple content processing functions into a single contentprocessor, which may then perform multiple content processing functionson requested content. For example, one or more content processors in asingle ICPS 304 may decompress content from an origin server 112,decrypt the content, transcode the content into a different format,recompress the content, and provide the content through an FTP requestto an end-user system 102 via an edge server 230. Other combinations andpermutations of content processing functions may also be provided bydifferent embodiments as would be understood in light of thisdisclosure.

In some embodiments, the ICPS 304 may be a lean, light-weight server incomparison to the edge servers 230. For example, an ICPS 304 may includea local storage medium that is small in comparison to a storage mediumassociated with an edge server 230. Thus, an ICPS 304 may provide accessto a very large amount of memory storage without being required tomanage the entirety of the memory storage locally, but can insteadinteract with other devices to expand the memory space accessible to theICPS 304.

In one embodiment, the ICPS 304 may be organized in the same POP withmultiple edge servers, such that a single ICPS 304 provides contentprocessing for multiple edge servers 230. A single POP may also includea plurality of ICPSs 304. The ICPS 304 may be implemented using a serverthat is physically distinct from the edge servers 230. In anotherembodiment, the ICPS 304 may be physically integrated with one of theedge servers 230.

FIG. 4A depicts a block diagram 400 a of an ICPS 304, according to afirst embodiment. FIG. 4A may represent a physical server, oralternatively, it may represent a logical implementation of hardware andsoftware on an existing edge server. Assuming a physically distinctserver, the ICPS 304 may include a port 450 configured to receivecontent requests from one or more edge servers 230.

The port 450 may provide the request to a content processor 402. Therequest may be provided directly to the content processor 402, or maypass through additional software modules, such as a request handlingmodule. In one embodiment, the content processor 402 may represent athird-party software module installed and operating on a processor onthe ICPS 304. For example, the content processor 402 may include anApache® HTTP server and/or an Adobe® proprietary streaming module oranother type of streaming module configured to stream content in an HTTPLive Streaming (HLS) format, Microsoft® Smooth Streaming format, HTTPDynamic Streaming (HDS) format, and/or the like. The content processor402 may be configured to operate in a Just-in-Time (JIT) fashion. Thecontent processor 402 may also comprise a plug-in configured to interactwith other software modules operating on the ICPS 304.

In some embodiments, the content processor 402 may be thought of as a“black box” with a known interface. For example, a proprietarythird-party software module may provide an API to interact with a localfile system and/or port 450. This may allow different software modulesto be swapped in and out or to be used interchangeably with common ICPShardware and software. For example, a single ICPS hardware and softwareconfiguration may be designed to work with a number of different contentprocessors 402. A single POP may include several identical or nearlyidentical ICPSs 304, each including a different type of contentprocessor 402, and each providing a different type of contentprocessing.

In some embodiments, and with some types of third-party softwaremodules, the content processor 402 may be configured to interact with alocal file system. Under normal operating circumstances outside of theICPS 304, these third-party software modules may be expected to interactwith a local disk storage. For example, many third-party softwaremodules may be specifically designed to operate on an origin server 112,or alternatively on an edge server 230. Both of these devices may beassumed to have local file systems with a single logical address space.

In contrast, the ICPS 304 may include a local file system that isaugmented with a virtual file system to expand the accessible contentbeyond any local storage available on the ICPS 304. In this particularembodiment, a local kernel 404 may operate as part of a local operatingsystem that receives a request for a URI from the content processor 402.The local file system can determine that a file associated with therequested URI is available in the local file system, and then retrievethe requested content from the local file system. For example, the localoperating system may interact with a system library, such as the GNU CLibrary (GLIBC) that provides system calls and other basic functions forinteracting with a file system. Note that in some embodiments, thekernel 404 may simply pass the content request through to another modulewithout checking any local kernel storage for the requested content.

If the operating system determines that the requested file is notlocated in its file system, or if the local kernel 404 is simply passingrequests through, the local operating system can pass the contentrequest to a CDN content interface 460. The CDN content interface 460may be configured to provide virtualized access to content objects thatare accessible via the CDN. These objects may be stored both locally andremotely, within the same POP or within different POPs, on edge serversand on origin servers. The CDN content interface 460 may also beconfigured to interface with portions of requested content, such that arequested content object may be broken up into smaller pieces andrequested from separate locations. In some cases, the separate locationsmay be located in different POPs. Additionally, the CDN contentinterface 460 may be specifically designed to handle URIs that caninclude a filename and a resource path.

In one embodiment, the CDN content interface 460 may be comprised of anumber of sub-modules and hardware devices. In the example of FIG. 4A,the CDN content interface 460 is comprised of a virtual file server 410,a caching engine 412, and a local storage device 408. It will beunderstood that these sub-modules and hardware devices are merelyexemplary, and other embodiments may use different configurations toachieve virtualized access to the CDN from the ICPS 304.

In this embodiment, the virtual file server 410 may be implemented inpart using a File System in User Space (FUSE). The FUSE may comprise aloadable kernel module that allows the ICPS 304 designer to create avirtual file server 410 without editing the local kernel 404. Generally,the virtual file server 410 need not actually store content itself.Instead, it can act as a view or translation of existing file systems orstorage devices throughout the CDN. In the case of the particular ICPS304, the virtual file server 410 may act as a view or translation offile systems or storage devices that are geographically or logicallyremote from the ICPS 304.

One effect of using a specialized virtual file server 410 that isconfigured to interface internally with a CDN is that it can make remotefiles appear local to the content processor 402. Therefore, instead ofneeding to install a content processor 402 on each server location wherecontent is stored, fewer locations (ICPSs) can be used to processcontent from disparate sources, and transmit the processed content toedge servers.

The particular embodiment of FIG. 4A, the virtual file server 410 mayinteract with a caching engine 412. The caching engine 412 may beconfigured to cache objects that have been recently requested from otherstorage locations. The caching engine 412 may store a local cached copyof objects in a local storage device 408. The local storage device 408may be implemented using disk arrays, hard disks, flash memory, and/orthe like. The caching engine 412 may be configured to determine wheneach stored object was last used, how often objects are used, how likelyobjects are to be used in the future, an estimated time when an objectwill be next used, and/or the like. Generally, the caching engine 412may be used to optimize the contents of the local storage device 408such that any requested content can be efficiently delivered from theICPS 304 instead of requiring content to be retrieved from a remotelocation. In one embodiment, the Edge Prism Caching Engine designed byLimelight Networks® may be used to implement the caching engine 412.

When the caching engine 412 determines that a local cached copy of therequested content is not available, the caching engine may request thecontent from a remote location through port 452. For example, thecaching engine 412 may request a copy of the content from an originserver 112 from a content provider. In some embodiments, the cachingengine 412 may simply submit a request for content to the CDN cachehierarchy such that additional edge servers in the CDN can respond ifthey store at least a portion of the requested content. The originserver 112 may respond by providing a copy of the content, or a portionof the content to the caching engine 412. If the caching engine 412determines that storing a local copy of the content comprises anefficient use of the local storage device 408 (e.g. the content will berequested again in the near future) then a local cached copy may beretained. Alternatively, the caching engine 412 may simply provide therequested copy to the virtual file server 410 for content processing.

In either case, the requested content may be provided through the CDNcontent interface 460 to the local kernel 404, and then to the contentprocessor 402. Again, in some embodiments, the content processor 402 mayinteract with the received content as though it were retrieved from alocal file system. In other words, the operation of the CDN contentinterface 460 and/or the caching engine 412 may be transparent to thecontent processor 402. Finally, the content processor 402 may processthe requested content and deliver it to the edge server 230 through port450.

FIG. 4B depicts a block diagram 400 b of an ICPS 304, according to asecond embodiment. This embodiment is similar to the embodiment depictedby FIG. 4A. However, instead of interacting with an origin server 112,the caching engine 412 may interact through port 552 with another devicein the CDN cache hierarchy 420. The CDN cache hierarchy 420 may be madeup of numerous other edge servers 230, router devices, storagelocations, and/or the like. The caching engine 412 may give priority tolocations within the CDN cache hierarchy 420 that are closer physically,logically, or otherwise to the ICPS 304. The caching engine 412 may alsogive priority to connections with the lowest latency or with the mostavailable bandwidth.

In one embodiment, the caching engine 412 may retrieve portions of therequested content from more than one location within the CDN cachehierarchy 420. In some cases, the caching engine 412 may connect tomultiple locations within the CDN cache hierarchy 412 in a peer-to-peer(P2P) fashion in order to retrieve portions of the requested contentfrom multiple locations.

In one embodiment, one location in the CDN cache hierarchy 420 may bequickly and readily accessible by the ICPS 304. In this case, because ofwhat may be a limited capacity of the local storage device 408, thecaching engine 412 may forgo caching a copy of the requested content inthe local storage device 408. Instead, because of the logical orgeographic proximity of the content location within the CDN cachehierarchy 420, the caching engine 412 may simply rely on the otherexternal copy of the content. Additionally, the CDN cache hierarchy 420may be comprised of multiple POPs that are geographically spreadthroughout a large area. Therefore, the CDN content interface 460 mayretrieve content from multiple POPs. Each POP may also be incommunication with multiple origin servers, such as origin server 112,and thus content, or portions of content, may be retrieved from one ormore remote origin servers that are associated with a POP that isdifferent from the ICPS's POP.

FIG. 4C depicts a block diagram 400 c of an ICPS, according to a thirdembodiment. This embodiment is similar to the embodiments described inrelation to FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B. However, in this case, the CDN contentinterface 460 may be designed without a local storage device 408 and/orwithout a caching engine 412. Instead, the CDN content interface 460 mayrely entirely on external storage sites to supply content to the contentprocessor 402. The virtual file server 410 may receive requests throughthe user space 406 associated with the local kernel 404, and send therequest to an external location at which the requested content iscurrently stored.

The virtual file server 410 may retrieve the requested content from anystorage device associated with the CDN. For example, the virtual fileserver 410 may retrieve the requested content from an origin server 112associated with the content provider serviced by the CDN. The virtualfile server 410 may also retrieve the requested content from a deviceassociated with the CDN cache hierarchy 420. Either case may involvemultiple POPs.

Designing the CDN content interface 460 without a local storage device408 and/or without a caching engine 412 may result in a leaner, lessexpensive, less complicated server. To compensate for the lack of alocal storage device 408, the cost/space/complexity savings may allow aCDN operator to deploy multiple ICPSs 304 in each POP. Alternatively,the ports and communication systems of the ICPS 304 can be optimized toincrease the throughput of content from other locations.

In one embodiment, the various modules and systems in FIGS. 4A-4C mayreside on separate computer systems. Alternatively, multiple modules maybe combined on the same or similar computer systems. In addition, somemodules may be combined together into a single module performing thefunctions of both individual modules. Similarly, a single module may besplit into multiple modules. It will be understood in light of thisdisclosure that any arrangement of the modules, as well as anyimplementation in both software and hardware, may be used by variousembodiments.

FIG. 5 depicts a flow chart 500 of a method of handling content requestsreceived from edge servers by an intermediate server in a CDN andaccessing and processing content distributed throughout the CDN,according to one embodiment. The method may include receiving contentrequests from a CDN edge network (502). The CDN edge network may becomprised of one or more edge servers, from which a request may bereceived. The request may include a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)associated with requested content. The URI may include a file name and aresource path. In one arrangement, and edge server in the CDN edgenetwork may send the content requests to an ICPS. The ICPS may receivethe content through port that is configured to receive requests from anedge network. The content request may originate from an end-user systemor from within the CDN itself.

The method may also include passing the content request to a localkernel (504). In one embodiment, the kernel may operate as part of anoperating system on the ICPS. The kernel may be configured to accessphysical resources on the ICPS. The method may additionally includepassing the content request to the CDN content interface (506). The CDNcontent interface may provide virtualized access to content files thatare accessible using URIs through the CDN. In one embodiment, the CDNcontent interface may comprise a virtual file server operating in userspace that does not require modifications to the kernel. The CDN contentinterface may also comprise a caching engine configured to determinewhether a local copy of requested content, or a portion of the requestedcontent, is available. The CDN content interface may also comprise aphysical storage device configured to store locally-cached copies ofpreviously requested content objects. The physical storage device may besmaller, or have a smaller storage capacity, than a storage capacitytypically associated with edge servers in the CDN or origin servers.

In one embodiment, the content processor may be configured to interfacewith a local kernel rather than the CDN content interface. Therefore, inthis embodiment, the content request may need to go through the kernelto access the CDN content interface.

The method may further include determining whether each portion of therequested content is locally cached (508). This determining step may beoptional in some embodiments. “Locally cached” may refer to cachedcopies of content portions that are available on a local storage device,on a storage device of an edge server within the same POP, or on astorage device of an origin server that is accessible through the POP,depending on the particular embodiment. Content that is not locallycached may be stored on an edge server within a different POP, or on anorigin server that is accessible by an edge server within a differentPOP.

The method may also include retrieving a remote copy (510), and/orretrieving a local copy (512). In one embodiment, the entire requestedcontent may be retrieved as a local copy. In another embodiment, theentire requested content may be retrieved as a remote copy. In anotherembodiment, a first portion of the requested content may be locallyavailable within the same POP as the ICPS. Similarly, a second portionof content may be remotely accessible through a second POP. In thiscase, both the first and second portions of the requested content can beretrieved from each respective source. In one embodiment, a thirdportion of the requested content may also be retrieved from a localstorage device that is part of the ICPS. It will be understood thatportions of the content may be provided from multiple locationsaccessible by the CDN, or alternatively, that the entire requestedcontent may be provided from a single location accessible by the CDN.

In some cases, the ICPS may determine that only a portion of therequested content needs to be processed. For example, a file type may beused to determine that only a first portion of the content will beviewed by an end-user system. Similarly, a content type may be used todetermine that only a first portion of the content will typically beviewed by an end-user system. In these cases, only a portion of therequested content may need to be provided to the content processor.After receiving all of the portions of the requested content, the CDNcontent interface can pass the requested content, or a portion thereof,to the content processor through the kernel.

The method may also include a performing a processing function on therequested content (514). In one embodiment, the processing function maycomprise dividing the requested content into streaming data chunks. Forexample, the content processor may be a proprietary module used toprovide a chunk streaming service. In another embodiment, the contentprocessor may comprise an FTP server that may provide file upload anddownload to the CDN using this protocol. In another embodiment, theprocessing function may comprise encrypting or decrypting requestedcontent. In another embodiment, the processing function may comprisetranscoding, or changing a first format of the requested content into asecond format. In another embodiment, the processing function maycomprise compressing or decompressing the content. In anotherembodiment, the processing function may comprise packaging variouscontent objects together.

The content processor may comprise a third-party proprietary module.This module may require a license, which may be a per-installationlicense. In some embodiments, the content processor may be designed tointeract with the kernel. The content processor may also be designed tointeract with a local concrete file system. The content processor mayreceive the requested content or a portion of the requested content andgenerate processed content according to the processing function of theparticular embodiment. Finally, the content processor may provide theprocessed content to be sent to the CDN edge network. The content may beprovided to the particular edge server responsible for the originalcontent request.

It should be appreciated that the specific steps illustrated in FIG. 5provide particular methods of providing for processing and accessingcontent according to various embodiments of the present invention. Othersequences of steps may also be performed according to alternativeembodiments. For example, alternative embodiments of the presentinvention may perform the steps outlined above in a different order.Moreover, the individual steps illustrated in FIG. 5 may includemultiple sub-steps that may be performed in various sequences asappropriate to the individual step. Furthermore, additional steps may beadded or removed depending on the particular applications. One ofordinary skill in the art would recognize many variations,modifications, and alternatives.

FIG. 6 depicts a swim diagram of transactions within an ICPS, accordingto one embodiment. The swim diagram is merely exemplary, and is meant toillustrate how content and content requests can flow between the variouscomponents of a CDN and an ICPS. Initially, an edge server 230 from theedge network of a CDN may send a content request to an ICPS (602). Thecontent request may be received specifically by a content processor 402of the ICPS. In another embodiment, a request handling module of theICPS may route the content to a particular content processor, dependingon the type of content processing implicated by the request.

The content processor 402 can send the content request to a local kernel404 to retrieve what it may consider to be a local file (604). The localkernel 404 can send the content request to a virtual file server 410(606). The virtual file server 410 may have access to a caching engine412 that can be used to locate content associated with the contentrequest (608). The caching engine 412 can determine whether any portionof the content is available on a local storage device. If at least aportion of the content is not located on a local storage device, thecaching engine 412 may send the URI into the CDN hierarchy to retrieve alocation of a content server 420 on which the content is stored. In oneembodiment, the content server 420 may comprise the ICPS itself using alocal storage device. In another embodiment, the content server 420 maycomprise an origin server 112 operated by a content provider. In yetanother embodiment, the content server 420 may comprise another edgeserver 230. In yet another embodiment, the content server 420 maycomprise another type of server that is part of a CDN cache hierarchy.The content server 420 may be part of the same POP as the ICPS, or maybe part of a different POP.

After the content is located, the content request may be forwarded tothe identified content server 420 (610). In response, the content server420 may send the content, or a portion of the content, to the cachingengine 412 (612). The caching engine 412 may determine whether to storea local cached version of the content in a local storage device on theICPS according to the factors described elsewhere in this disclosure.The caching engine 412 may then pass at least a portion of the contentthrough the virtual file system 410 (614) and/or the local kernel 404(616) to the content processor 402 (618). The content processor 402 maythen process the content in a manner implicated by the content requestor by setting specified by the ICPS, the CDN, the CDN cache hierarchy,or the content provider. Finally, at least a portion of the processedcontent may be delivered to the requesting edge server 23 for deliveryto an end-user system (620).

Referring next to FIG. 7, an exemplary environment with whichembodiments may be implemented is shown with a computer system 700 thatcan be used by a user 704 to program, design or otherwise interact withthe computer system 700. The computer system 700 can include a computer702, keyboard 722, a network router 712, a printer 708, and a monitor706. The monitor 706, processor 702 and keyboard 722 are part of acomputer system 726, which can be a laptop computer, desktop computer,handheld computer, mainframe computer, etc. The monitor 706 can be aCRT, flat screen, etc.

A user 704 can input commands into the computer 702 using various inputdevices, such as a mouse, keyboard 722, track ball, touch screen, etc.If the computer system 700 comprises a mainframe, a user 704 can accessthe computer 702 using, for example, a terminal or terminal interface.Additionally, the computer system 726 may be connected to a printer 708and a server 710 using a network router 712, which may connect to theInternet 718 or a WAN.

The server 710 may, for example, be used to store additional softwareprograms and data. In one embodiment, software implementing the systemsand methods described herein can be stored on a storage medium in theserver 710. Thus, the software can be run from the storage medium in theserver 710. In another embodiment, software implementing the systems andmethods described herein can be stored on a storage medium in thecomputer 702. Thus, the software can be run from the storage medium inthe computer system 726. Therefore, in this embodiment, the software canbe used whether or not computer 702 is connected to network router 712.Printer 708 may be connected directly to computer 702, in which case,the computer system 726 can print whether or not it is connected tonetwork router 712.

With reference to FIG. 8, an embodiment of a special-purpose computersystem 800 is shown. The above methods may be implemented bycomputer-program products that direct a computer system to perform theactions of the above-described methods and components. Each suchcomputer-program product may comprise sets of instructions (codes)embodied on a computer-readable medium that directs the processor of acomputer system to perform corresponding actions. The instructions maybe configured to run in sequential order, or in parallel (such as underdifferent processing threads), or in a combination thereof. Afterloading the computer-program products on a general purpose computersystem 826, it is transformed into the special-purpose computer system800.

Special-purpose computer system 800 comprises a computer 702, a monitor706 coupled to computer 702, one or more additional user output devices830 (optional) coupled to computer 702, one or more user input devices840 (e.g., keyboard, mouse, track ball, touch screen) coupled tocomputer 702, an optional communications interface 850 coupled tocomputer 702, a computer-program product 805 stored in a tangiblecomputer-readable memory in computer 702. Computer-program product 805directs system 800 to perform the above-described methods. Computer 702may include one or more processors 860 that communicate with a number ofperipheral devices via a bus subsystem 890. These peripheral devices mayinclude user output device(s) 830, user input device(s) 840,communications interface 850, and a storage subsystem, such as randomaccess memory (RAM) 870 and non-volatile storage drive 880 (e.g., diskdrive, optical drive, solid state drive), which are forms of tangiblecomputer-readable memory.

Computer-program product 805 may be stored in non-volatile storage drive880 or another computer-readable medium accessible to computer 702 andloaded into memory 870. Each processor 860 may comprise amicroprocessor, such as a microprocessor from Intel® or Advanced MicroDevices, Inc.®, or the like. To support computer-program product 805,the computer 702 runs an operating system that handles thecommunications of product 805 with the above-noted components, as wellas the communications between the above-noted components in support ofthe computer-program product 805. Exemplary operating systems includeWindows® or the like from Microsoft® Corporation, Solaris® from Oracle®,LINUX, UNIX, and the like.

User input devices 840 include all possible types of devices andmechanisms to input information to computer system 702. These mayinclude a keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a scanner, a digital drawing pad,a touch screen incorporated into the display, audio input devices suchas voice recognition systems, microphones, and other types of inputdevices. In various embodiments, user input devices 840 are typicallyembodied as a computer mouse, a trackball, a track pad, a joystick,wireless remote, a drawing tablet, a voice command system. User inputdevices 840 typically allow a user to select objects, icons, text andthe like that appear on the monitor 806 via a command such as a click ofa button or the like. User output devices 830 include all possible typesof devices and mechanisms to output information from computer 702. Thesemay include a display (e.g., monitor 806), printers, non-visual displayssuch as audio output devices, etc.

Communications interface 850 provides an interface to othercommunication networks and devices and may serve as an interface toreceive data from and transmit data to other systems, WANs and/or theInternet 818. Embodiments of communications interface 850 typicallyinclude an Ethernet card, a modem (telephone, satellite, cable, ISDN), a(asynchronous) digital subscriber line (DSL) unit, a FireWire®interface, a USB® interface, a wireless network adapter, and the like.For example, communications interface 850 may be coupled to a computernetwork, to a FireWire® bus, or the like. In other embodiments,communications interface 850 may be physically integrated on themotherboard of computer 702, and/or may be a software program, or thelike.

RAM 870 and non-volatile storage drive 880 are examples of tangiblecomputer-readable media configured to store data such ascomputer-program product embodiments of the present invention, includingexecutable computer code, human-readable code, or the like. Other typesof tangible computer-readable media include floppy disks, removable harddisks, optical storage media such as CD-ROMs, DVDs, bar codes,semiconductor memories such as flash memories, read-only-memories(ROMs), battery-backed volatile memories, networked storage devices, andthe like. RAM 870 and non-volatile storage drive 880 may be configuredto store the basic programming and data constructs that provide thefunctionality of various embodiments of the present invention, asdescribed above.

Software instruction sets that provide the functionality of the presentinvention may be stored in RAM 870 and non-volatile storage drive 880.These instruction sets or code may be executed by the processor(s) 860.RAM 870 and non-volatile storage drive 880 may also provide a repositoryto store data and data structures used in accordance with the presentinvention. RAM 870 and non-volatile storage drive 880 may include anumber of memories including a main random access memory (RAM) to storeof instructions and data during program execution and a read-only memory(ROM) in which fixed instructions are stored. RAM 870 and non-volatilestorage drive 880 may include a file storage subsystem providingpersistent (non-volatile) storage of program and/or data files. RAM 870and non-volatile storage drive 880 may also include removable storagesystems, such as removable flash memory.

Bus subsystem 890 provides a mechanism to allow the various componentsand subsystems of computer 702 communicate with each other as intended.Although bus subsystem 890 is shown schematically as a single bus,alternative embodiments of the bus subsystem may utilize multiple bussesor communication paths within the computer 702.

A number of variations and modifications of the disclosed embodimentscan also be used. For example, embodiments show the DNS function beingresident within a POP with edge servers, but other embodiments couldplace the DNS function geographically separate from any content servingfunctions. Other embodiments could place multiple DNS functions in a POPto divide the work load for those DNS requests received by the POP.

Specific details are given in the above description to provide athorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it is understoodthat the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details.For example, circuits may be shown in block diagrams in order not toobscure the embodiments in unnecessary detail. In other instances,well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniquesmay be shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring theembodiments.

Implementation of the techniques, blocks, steps and means describedabove may be done in various ways. For example, these techniques,blocks, steps and means may be implemented in hardware, software, or acombination thereof. For a hardware implementation, the processing unitsmay be implemented within one or more application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signalprocessing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), fieldprogrammable gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers,micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed toperform the functions described above, and/or a combination thereof.

Also, it is noted that the embodiments may be described as a processwhich is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a swim diagram, a dataflow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although adepiction may describe the operations as a sequential process, many ofthe operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. Inaddition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process isterminated when its operations are completed, but could have additionalsteps not included in the figure. A process may correspond to a method,a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a processcorresponds to a function, its termination corresponds to a return ofthe function to the calling function or the main function.

Furthermore, embodiments may be implemented by hardware, software,scripting languages, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardwaredescription languages, and/or any combination thereof. When implementedin software, firmware, middleware, scripting language, and/or microcode,the program code or code segments to perform the necessary tasks may bestored in a machine readable medium such as a storage medium. A codesegment or machine-executable instruction may represent a procedure, afunction, a subprogram, a program, a routine, a subroutine, a module, asoftware package, a script, a class, or any combination of instructions,data structures, and/or program statements. A code segment may becoupled to another code segment or a hardware circuit by passing and/orreceiving information, data, arguments, parameters, and/or memorycontents. Information, arguments, parameters, data, etc. may be passed,forwarded, or transmitted via any suitable means including memorysharing, message passing, token passing, network transmission, etc.

For a firmware and/or software implementation, the methodologies may beimplemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) thatperform the functions described herein. Any machine-readable mediumtangibly embodying instructions may be used in implementing themethodologies described herein. For example, software codes may bestored in a memory. Memory may be implemented within the processor orexternal to the processor. As used herein the term “memory” refers toany type of long term, short term, volatile, nonvolatile, or otherstorage medium and is not to be limited to any particular type of memoryor number of memories, or type of media upon which memory is stored.

Moreover, as disclosed herein, the term “storage medium” may representone or more memories for storing data, including read only memory (ROM),random access memory (RAM), magnetic RAM, core memory, magnetic diskstorage mediums, optical storage mediums, flash memory devices and/orother machine readable mediums for storing information. The term“machine-readable medium” includes, but is not limited to portable orfixed storage devices, optical storage devices, and/or various otherstorage mediums capable of storing that contain or carry instruction(s)and/or data.

While the principles of the disclosure have been described above inconnection with specific apparatuses and methods, it is to be clearlyunderstood that this description is made only by way of example and notas limitation on the scope of the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. An intermediate server for handling contentrequests received from edge servers in a Content Delivery Network (CDN)and accessing and processing content distributed throughout the CDN, theintermediate server comprising: a port that receives a content requestfrom an edge server, wherein: the content request includes a UniformResource Identifier (URI) associated with requested content; and theedge server and the intermediate server are part of a firstPoint-of-Presence (POP) in the CDN; a content processor communicativelycoupled to the port and configured to: pass the URI to an operatingsystem operating on the intermediate server, wherein the operatingsystem passes the URI to a specialized virtual file server; receive therequested content from the specialized virtual file server through theoperating system; and perform a processing function on the requestedcontent to produce processed content for delivery to the edge server; aCDN content interface comprising the specialized virtual file serverthat provides virtualized access to content files in multiple POPs thatare accessible throughout the CDN using URIs, wherein the CDN contentinterface is configured to: receive a first portion of content using theURI; wherein the first portion of content is stored in the first POP;receive a second portion of content using the URI; wherein the secondportion of content is accessible from a second POP; generate therequested content by combining at least the first portion of content andthe second portion of content; provide the requested content to theoperating system through the specialized virtual file server, whereinthe specialized virtual file server makes the requested contentcomprising the first portion of content and the second portion ofcontent appear to be a single locally-stored file to the contentprocessor; and provide the requested content to the content processor.2. The intermediate server for handling content requests received fromedge servers in a CDN and accessing and processing content distributedthroughout the CDN of claim 1, wherein the CDN content interfacecomprises: a physical storage device; and a caching engine thatcommunicates with the local storage device and other devices in the CDN,wherein the specialized virtual file server operates in userspacewithout requiring modifications to a kernel of the operating system. 3.The intermediate server for handling content requests received from edgeservers in a CDN and accessing and processing content distributedthroughout the CDN of claim 2, wherein the caching engine is configuredto store the first portion of content and second portion of content inthe physical storage device.
 4. The intermediate server for handlingcontent requests received from edge servers in a CDN and accessing andprocessing content distributed throughout the CDN of claim 2, whereinthe CDN content interface is further configured to receive a thirdportion of the requested content using the URI, wherein: the thirdportion of the requested content is stored in the physical storagedevice; and the requested content further comprises the third portion ofthe requested content.
 5. The intermediate server for handling contentrequests received from edge servers in a CDN and accessing andprocessing content distributed throughout the CDN of claim 2, whereinthe physical storage device has a storage capacity that is less than astorage capacity of edge server.
 6. The intermediate server for handlingcontent requests received from edge servers in a CDN and accessing andprocessing content distributed throughout the CDN of claim 1, whereinthe processing function comprises dividing the requested content intostreaming data chunks.
 7. The intermediate server for handling contentrequests received from edge servers in a CDN and accessing andprocessing content distributed throughout the CDN of claim 1, whereinthe content processor comprises a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server.8. The intermediate server for handling content requests received fromedge servers in a CDN and accessing and processing content distributedthroughout the CDN of claim 1, wherein the processing function comprisestranscoding the requested content from a first file format to a secondfile format.
 9. The intermediate server for handling content requestsreceived from edge servers in a CDN and accessing and processing contentdistributed throughout the CDN of claim 1, wherein the processingfunction comprises encrypting or decrypting the requested content. 10.The intermediate server for handling content requests received from edgeservers in a CDN and accessing and processing content distributedthroughout the CDN of claim 1, wherein the content processor comprises athird-party module requiring a per-installation license.
 11. Theintermediate server for handling content requests received from edgeservers in a CDN and accessing and processing content distributedthroughout the CDN of claim 1, wherein the second portion of content isretrieved from an origin server that is accessible through the secondPOP.
 12. The intermediate server for handling content requests receivedfrom edge servers in a CDN and accessing and processing contentdistributed throughout the CDN of claim 1, wherein: the intermediateserver is configured to determine that only a portion of the processedcontent should be delivered to the edge server; and the processedcontent is based on only a portion of the requested content.
 13. Amethod of handling content requests received from edge servers by anintermediate server in a CDN and accessing and processing contentdistributed throughout the CDN, the method comprising: receiving acontent request through a port from an edge server, wherein: the contentrequest includes a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) associated withrequested content; and the edge server and the intermediate server arepart of a first Point-of-Presence (POP) in the CDN; passing the URI toan operating system operating on the intermediate server; passing theURI from the operating system to a CDN content interface comprising aspecialized virtual file server that provides virtualized access tocontent files in multiple POPs that are accessible throughout the CDNusing URIs; receiving, by the CDN content interface: a first portion ofcontent using the URI; wherein the first portion of content is stored inthe first POP; and a second portion of content using the URI; whereinthe second portion of content is accessible from a second POP;generating the requested content by combining at least the first portionof content and the second portion of content; passing the requestedcontent from the specialized virtual file server through the operatingsystem to the content processor, wherein the specialized virtual fileserver makes the requested content comprising the first portion ofcontent and the second portion of content appear to be a singlelocally-stored file to the content processor; and performing aprocessing function on the requested content by the content processor toproduce processed content for delivery to the edge server.
 14. Themethod of handling content requests received from edge servers by anintermediate server in a CDN and accessing and processing contentdistributed throughout the CDN of claim 13, wherein the CDN contentinterface comprises: a physical storage device; and a caching enginethat communicates with the local storage device and other devices in theCDN, wherein the specialized virtual file server operates in userspacewithout requiring modifications to a kernel of the operating system. 15.The method of handling content requests received from edge servers by anintermediate server in a CDN and accessing and processing contentdistributed throughout the CDN of claim 14, wherein the caching engineis configured to store the first portion of content and second portionof content in the physical storage device.
 16. The method of handlingcontent requests received from edge servers by an intermediate server ina CDN and accessing and processing content distributed throughout theCDN of claim 14, wherein the CDN content interface is further configuredto receive a third portion of the requested content using the URI,wherein: the third portion of the requested content is stored in thephysical storage device; and the requested content further comprises thethird portion of the requested content.
 17. The method of handlingcontent requests received from edge servers by an intermediate server ina CDN and accessing and processing content distributed throughout theCDN of claim 13, wherein the processing function comprises dividing therequested content into streaming data chunks.
 18. The method of handlingcontent requests received from edge servers by an intermediate server ina CDN and accessing and processing content distributed throughout theCDN of claim 13, wherein the content processor comprises an FileTransfer Protocol (FTP) server.
 19. The method of handling contentrequests received from edge servers by an intermediate server in a CDNand accessing and processing content distributed throughout the CDN ofclaim 13, wherein the second portion of content is retrieved from anorigin server that is accessible through the second POP.
 20. Anintermediate server for handling content requests received from edgeservers in a Content Delivery Network (CDN) and accessing and processingcontent distributed throughout the CDN, the intermediate servercomprising: a port that receives a content request from an edge server,wherein: the content request includes a Uniform Resource Identifier(URI) associated with requested content; and the edge server and theintermediate server are part of a first Point-of-Presence (POP) in theCDN; a content processor communicatively coupled to the port andconfigured to perform a processing function on the requested content toproduce processed content for delivery to the edge server, wherein theprocessing function comprises dividing the requested content intostreaming data chunks; and a CDN content interface comprising aspecialized virtual file server that provides virtualized access tocontent files in multiple POPs that are accessible throughout the CDNusing URIs, wherein the CDN content interface is configured to: receivea first portion of content using the URI; wherein the first portion ofcontent is accessible from a second POP; and provide the requestedcontent to the content processor, wherein: the requested contentcomprises the first portion of the requested content; and thespecialized virtual file server makes the requested content comprisingthe first portion of content appear to be a single locally-stored fileto the content processor.